Healthy Family

Although adults usually decide what kids eat, we all know that kids eat what is available. Therefore, surrounding them with healthier options leaves them no choice but to eat better food.

 

Set the Family Up for Success

Small changes in five key areas can make a huge difference and add up to real results: eat more fruits and vegetables, consume less sugar and fat, eat healthier snacks, watch portion size, and eat together as a family.

Fruits & Vegetables

• Kids should eat five fruits and vegetables a day
• Serve fresh, frozen, and canned fruits and vegetables; they all count
• Provide fruit or carrot sticks as great snacks
• Offer 100% juice, with no added sugar
• Mix vegetables into dishes, like adding peas to rice, or cucumbers to a sandwich

Healthy Choices to Reduce Fat and Sugar

• Switch to low or non-fat milk, yogurt and cheese
• Choose lean cuts of meat like skinless chicken or extra lean ground beef for hamburgers or pasta sauces
• Bake or grill instead of fry
• Substitute olive or vegetable oil for butter
• Substitute water or low-fat milk for sodas or sweetened beverages
• Drink less soda or sugar-sweetened drinks
• Switch to lower sugar breakfast cereals
• Switch desserts like ice cream and cake for fruit based desserts

Snacks

• Reduce the number of snacks served each day
• Leave a bowl of fruit or carrot sticks on the kitchen table
• Differentiate between snacks that require permission (cookies), versus snacks that kids can take freely (fresh or dried fruit)
• Have kids drink water at snack time
• Save “treats” for special occasions

Portion Size

• Kids are smaller than adults and should eat smaller portions
• Use smaller plates for kids
• Don’t force kids to clean their plates if they are full
• Portions should be about the size of the back of a fist—a child’s fist for a child’s portion
• Start with a small portion. Children can have seconds if they are still hungry

Eat Together

• Family meals focus on eating and enjoying food and each other
• Eating together is a chance to model good behavior
• Regularly scheduled meal and snack times help kids learn structure for eating

 

 

I offer Online Fitness Coaching, real results for real people. No crazy diets or extreme workouts. My packages include meal plans, gym workouts, at home workout, workouts with kids, recipes, newsletters, 24/7 contact with me all at the fraction of the cost of a personal trainer. For more information please contact me at GetFitWithMaura@yahoo.com

Your Treadmill Is Lying To You!

If you rely on your treadmill readout, you may be burning fewer calories than you think.

But more important: If you rely on conventional exercise advice, you may be burning fewer calories than you could.

Let’s start with the treadmill. Anytime you see “calories burned” on an exercise machine display—or anywhere else, for that matter—it includes the amount of energy you expend when you’re just sitting around, says Alex Koch, Ph.D., an exercise scientist at Lenoir-Rhyne University. “For instance, depending on your size, you burn about 1.2 calories a minute while you’re sleeping,” explains Koch. “So to know how many extra calories you’re burning with exercise, you have to subtract that number from your total.” (How many calories do you need each day?

Example: A 180-pound guy might burn 120 calories while mowing his lawn, but that’s not 120 additional calories (as many people assume)—it’s 120 calories total. Turns out, it’s only 60 more calories than what he’d expend while surfing the Web.

The same rules apply to your workout. If you really want to know your true bonus-burn, you have to calculate the calories you would have expended had you not exercised—see the alternative “activities” in the chart below—then subtract them from your total. You might find that the 400 calories you burned at the gym was actually just 300 more calories than you would have burned at your desk.

Activity	Calories per minute
Watching TV	1.4
Typing on a computer	2.5
Driving a car	2.7

But that’s just the beginning of the confusion. Part two: It’s generally accepted that aerobic activity like moderate jogging burns more calories than anaerobic activity like weight training. In fact, if you go by the published numbers, you find that even golfing beats out a light circuit workout with weights. But, actually, you’re being misled in two ways.

 

First, new research from Christopher Scott, Ph.D., an exercise physiologist at the University of Southern Maine, shows that weight training burns a lot more calories than originally thought—up to 71 percent more. Based on these findings, it’s estimated that performing just one circuit of eight exercises—which takes about 8 minutes—can expend 159 to 231 calories. That’s about the same as running at a 6-minute-mile pace for the same duration.

 

Second, unlike with aerobic exercise, lifting increases the calories you burn while you’re sitting on the couch. One reason: Your body needs energy to repair and upgrade your muscle fibers after each weight workout. For instance, a University of Wisconsin study found that a total-body workout elevated metabolism for 39 hours afterward. What’s more, these folks also burned a greater percentage of their calories from fat during their downtime, compared with those who weren’t hitting the weights.

The bottom line: If you want to burn more calories per minute—both during and after your workout—you need to lift weights. Yes, you might have been told that going at a moderate pace on the treadmill, stationary bike, or elliptical machine—often called the “fat-burning zone”—is the best way to fight fat. But the truth is, the numbers and the science just don’t add up. 

Now don’t misinterpret the message: Aerobic exercise is still a great activity for health and fitness, and yes, it burns calories, too. So we’re not suggesting that anyone exclude it. Just don’t skip the weights entirely because you think you’re going to “burn more calories” on the treadmill. Chances are, you won’t.

Like the idea of weights, but not sure where to start? You can’t expect great results if you spend more time sitting or talking than you do lifting. You need a weight-training plan that’s specifically designed to help you melt flab. 

 

 

 

I offer Online Fitness Coaching, real results for real people. No crazy diets or extreme workouts. My packages include meal plans, gym workouts, at home workout, workouts with kids, recipes, newsletters, 24/7 contact with me all at the fraction of the cost of a personal trainer. For more information please contact me at GetFitWithMaura@yahoo.com

The Best Breakfast to Rev Your Metabolism All Day

 

When it comes to exercising, there are two kinds of people in the world: those who work out in the morning and those who’d rather not get up before the sun. No matter which category you fall into, what you do in the morning can help or hurt your metabolism.

While you can count me in the morning exercisers club, I recommend for those who don’t: Eat breakfast almost as soon as you wake up. Either start off with a good breakfast or a good workout. If you’re going to work out within an hour of waking up, then don’t eat. But if you can’t work out within an hour of waking up, then eat. Either your workout or eating a healthy breakfast is going to jump start your metabolism.

If you are a morning exerciser, skip eating if you normally experience stomach discomfort while you exercise. If you do need fuel before a workout, try a small protein shake, a piece of toast with a protein, or a small bowl of oatmeal, but “not too much; if you can burn off what’s in stores from the day before, then you’re better off than just burning off what you ate for breakfast,” she says.

 

 I offer Online Fitness Coaching, real results for real people. No crazy diets or extreme workouts. My packages include meal plans, gym workouts, at home workout, workouts with kids, recipes, newsletters, 24/7 contact with me all at the fraction of the cost of a personal trainer. For more information please contact me at GetFitWithMaura@yahoo.com

What is a Mediterranean Diet?

Although the Mediterranean Diet has absolutely nothing to do with how they really eat in the Mediterranean I still love it!

This type of diet excludes any processed foods and bad fats. It revolves around consumption of whole grains, nuts, fruits and vegetables, legumes, fish and even red wine. These food items are all rich in antioxidant and anti-inflammatory compounds. The Mediterranean diet is essentially a heart healthy eating plan based on minimally processed foods that are plant-based and rich in monounsaturated fats. 

Choosing this type of eating plan can help you build a healthier plate.  

• Eat whole grains, vegetables and fruits served at most meals. Fruits are eaten as desserts.
• Replace butter with olive oil as the principal source of dietary fat used for baking and cooking.
• Nuts, beans, legumes and seeds are eaten for a good source of protein, healthy fats and fiber.
• Herbs and spices are used to season dishes instead of salt.
• Fish and shellfish are eaten for protein at least twice a week and lean cuts of meats are eaten in small portions.
• Red wine is consumed in moderation, if appropriate.
• Includes plenty of exercise and enjoying meals with others.

Experts say these types of foods have shown to help decrease vascular damage, inflammation and oxidative damage in the brain.

Dr. Martinez-Gonzalez says the study isn’t seamless, but believes there is strong evidence that this type of diet is beneficial.

“The harmony, the combination of all of the micronutrients, when they are combined in traditional Mediterranean cuisine, is very important for the functioning of the central nervous system,” he said.

He adds that not only is this diet a healthy one, but it’s also very sustainable.

Spanish researchers studied more than 1,000 people for six and a half years, finding that those who stuck to a Mediterranean diet, adding extra nuts and olive oil, performed better on cognitive tests than those who followed a low-fat diet.

“We found that a Mediterranean diet with olive oil was able to reduce low-grade inflammation associated with a high risk of vascular disease and cognitive impairments,” 

 

 

 

 I offer Online Fitness Coaching, real results for real people. No crazy diets or extreme workouts. My packages include meal plans, gym workouts, at home workout, workouts with kids, recipes, newsletters, 24/7 contact with me all at the fraction of the cost of a personal trainer. For more information please contact me at GetFitWithMaura@yahoo.com

Eat Breakfast!

You wouldn’t expect your car to run on empty, so why ask your body to do it?

Starting the day off with a healthy meal not only gives you the energy you need to work or play – it’s also linked to a lower risk of heart disease, a new study found.

Studies show that eating a healthy breakfast (as opposed to the kind containing doughnuts) can help give you:

• A more nutritionally complete diet, higher in nutrients, vitamins and minerals
• Improved concentration and performance in the classroom or the boardroom
• More strength and endurance to engage in physical activity
• Lower cholesterol levels

Eating breakfast is important for everyone, but is especially so for children and adolescents. According to the American Dietetic Association, children who eat breakfast perform better in the classroom and on the playground, with better concentration, problem-solving skills, and eye-hand coordination.

 

Many studies, in both adults and children, have shown that breakfast eaters tend to weigh less than breakfast skippers. 

Why? One theory suggests that eating a healthy breakfast can reduce hunger throughout the day, and help people make better food choices at other meals. While it might seem you could save calories by skipping breakfast, this is not an effective strategy. Typically, hunger gets the best of breakfast-skippers, and they eat more at lunch and throughout the day. 

Another theory behind the breakfast-weight control link implies that eating breakfast is part of a healthy lifestyle that includes making wise food choices and balancing calories with exercise. For example, consider the successful losers followed by the National Weight Control Registry, all of whom have lost at least 30 pounds and kept it off at least one year. Some 80% of the people in the Registry regularly eat breakfast (and also follow a calorie-controlled, low-fat diet).

 

Make Lean Protein Part of Your Breakfast

Adding a little lean protein to your breakfast may be just the boost you need to help keep you feeling full until lunchtime.

“Protein blunts your hunger the most, and is the most satiating,” Purdue University researcher Wayne Campbell, PhD,  tells WebMD.

And a traditional breakfast of eggs may be one of the best ways to get your morning protein. While eggs are not always associated with weight loss, they contain some of the highest-quality protein.

 

 

“Compared to the bagel eaters, overweight women who ate two eggs for breakfast five times a week for eight weeks as part of a low-fat, reduced-calorie diet, lost 65% more weight, reduced waist circumference by 83%, reported higher energy levels, and had no significant difference in their … blood cholesterol or triglyceride levels,” reports researcher Nikhil V. Dhurandhar, PhD. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 I offer Online Fitness Coaching, real results for real people. No crazy diets or extreme workouts. My packages include meal plans, gym workouts, at home workout, workouts with kids, recipes, newsletters, 24/7 contact with me all at the fraction of the cost of a personal trainer. For more information please contact me at GetFitWithMaura@yahoo.com